The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office plans to appeal a federal judge's ruling that Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his deputies racially profiled Latinos in their immigration information.

Arpaio's lawyers filed a notice of appeal Friday with the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

U.S. District Judge Murray Snow ruled last month that Arpaio's office systematically singled out Latinos in its immigration patrols and deputies unreasonably prolonged the detentions of people who were pulled over.

After the court's ruling late last month, Arpaio said he would change the department's immigration enforcement and abide by the federal judge.

"You know, as sheriff I uphold the law. The court's order is clear. We will no longer detain persons believed to be in the country without authorization whom we cannot arrest on state charges. I have already instructed my deputies," Arpaio said last month.

The notice of appeal lists seven specific issues the Sheriff's Office is challenging in Snow's May 24 ruling, which came more than eight months after a seven-day, non-jury trial in Phoenix.

Immigrants who were in Arizona's most populous country illegally accounted for 57 percent of the 1,500 people arrested in the 20 sweeps conducted by MCSO since January 2008.